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Sleight-of-hand saint

Led by a priest from Turin, Italy, a pilgrimage of 250 Italian jugglers asked Pope John Paul II to give them a patron saint. Silvio Mantelli, wearing a clerical collar and cone-shaped magician's hat, handed the pope a magic wand and asked him to declare St. John Bosco, a 19th century Italian priest and educator who also dabbled in sleight-of-hand, their patron saint. Bosco is already the patron saint of students and editors. The magician-pilgrims are members of a group that raises money for impoverished children and prays for world peace and serenity.